Kaitou Kitsune: Reborn
by BloodiedCoreOfHope
Summary: When Kaito steals yet another gem, it turns out to be magic. The side effects are unexpected- and the person he ends up stuck with while trying to fix the situation even more so.
1. Chapter 1

Kaito sat on a rooftop, watching the sun set with a gleam in his eyes. Soon, in less than an hour in fact, he would be stealing yet another Pandora candidate from its holders to inspect and return. All in all, a fairly pointless endeavour. And yet… He smiled to himself, the thrill of the heist always drew him back even if the leads to his father's murder culprits never lead to anything substantial.

He looked at his watch, and grinned. Half an hour till show time. With no fanfare, he moved towards the stairway and left the rooftop to move to his heist.

* * *

Hakuba watched the gem carefully from across the room. Kid, or as he knew him to be Kaito Kuroba, would be arriving soon. And he knew exactly what he was going to do. A quick dose of magic, a chase, a fake disguise, and then a rooftop ritual. It was the same formula every time, but that didn't make a difference to how easy he was to catch. He was like a puzzle, a Rubik's cube that had far more squares than could be considered reasonable for anyone to solve.

Of course, he smirked to himself, that was part of the trouble with him. Like a Rubik's cube, an unsolvable mystery would always tempt him closer. He pulled out his pocket watch. 10 minutes to go. He started patrolling the edges of the room, scanning for Kaito's form. He could be anything but shorter than himself, so he knew he could eliminate all shorter than 5 foot 8. Gender was irrelevant, and so was weight and other factors normally used.

He shook his head clear, and strode over to the case inspecting it. No good. As he had assessed previously, this wouldn't hold him back for even a moment. Fancy lock? Sure. Just not gonna hold that thief back for very long, and that reinforced plexiglass could do nothing against the over glorified cat burglar's schemes.

He looked over to Nakamori, who gave him an annoyed, but reluctant nod. This plan was as out there as any of them they had tried, and had the same miniscule chance of success. He drew his greatcoat closer to him, and hopped up onto the container. 30 seconds to go.

Hakuba swept his gaze across the crowd, his pocket watch ticking steadily, rhythmically in his hand. It informed him of his steady resolve, and as it clicked closer to point zero he felt his heartbeat increase. His eyes locked with two steady blue ones shaded underneath a baseball cap.

Three seconds to go, and the eyes flashed lightly with an inner fire as a smirk found its way onto both of their faces. They had found each other. And now, the chase would begin, there was no turning back.

For a moment, the lights flashed out and then there was too much- far too much light. Hakuba pulled his arm up to cover his eyes. He looked down, and the gem seemed to be gone. He looked up, and was met with his classmate's face. Obscured by the shading and aftereffects of the mild flash bomb and that ridiculous gravity defying monocle, but definitely Kuroba's. A grin formed, and then it and the face it hung on was gone. Hakuba's eyes took a moment to adjust, realising the thief had flipped in some unknown direction and was probably finishing his plan to steal the gem as he spoke.

Hakuba jumped off the plexiglass cube, to check the gem and determine what to do next. Kid apparently had the same idea judging by the white gloved hand slipping easily through the glass as though it were water. Hakuba eyed it, and assessed his options quickly. He could leave the thief now and head to the roof to wait for him trusting the police and the thief to be predictable as usual. Or, he could wait for the thief to decide first and follow his every move. Give him half a second ahead and that would be enough time for the thief to get a 'safe' distance away.

Yes... The third option sounded like a good one- it would enable more chance of holding a conversation with him before he soared away on those white wings of his. The thief pulled his hand away, the gem and its lovely blue metal cradle taken through a barely noticeable hole and flap in the plexiglass. Likely premade. Hakuba schooled his features into a mask of confidence, took a breath, and then he was off.

The thief's coattails and cloak flapped around stairwell edges and fueled him onwards, forcing his legs to move faster and he was nearly upon him. Hakuba stopped himself- knowing that the Kuroba would be the sort to turn mad and jump off a cliff rather than be cornered on one. It wasn't a good idea to get too physically close to him- he would run if he smelt a threat in the air and had no reason to stay. The only way to corner him was with bait, and since Hakuba didn't have any today…

Well, he'd just have to hope for good luck for a chance to question his classmate, wouldn't he? He slinked forward slowly, intending to watch him from the shadows for a moment and interrupt him after he was done with his odd little routine. Of course, it seemed the universe had other plans.

The door slammed open, and Hakuba found himself being pushed aside by a flabby hand. "KID!" Hakuba almost turned an exasperated look to the man who so rudely shoved him out of the way, but made certain to restrain his expression to a presentable surprised look. That was quickly frozen in place when he saw the gun waving wildly in the collector's hand.

Overweight, a face resembling an overcooked potato rolled in dirt, and thoroughly pissed off, he was certainly a sight to see. Topped with the gun, it made for an almost comical image. Kid, strangely, didn't seem too worried by the sight of him. Prepared, he thought idly, described Kuroba's attitude better, if such a look could be described.

"Ah, I haven't seen many guns lately! Are you with Snake-san?"

The collector almost seemed thrown off, but didn't let that stop him. "Who the hell is this 'Snake-san' you damned thief? Give me back Tierschatz- or I'll blow your brains out!"

Kid tutted, "Well if you don't know Snake-san, then I'm afraid my time is far too precious to waste with you. Now, if you'd be so kind as to allow me to _leave_ -"

"Of course I won't! What do you think this is- the queen's palace? I ain't gonna be so stupid as other collectors and allow you to return a fake!"

Eyes narrowing slightly, Kid breathed a deep breath of air in, and let it out with a relaxed, only slightly strained version of his normal grin fixed shakily in place. "Why, I'm insulted. I am as honest a thief as you'll find. Now if you'll excuse me I really ought to be going- places to be, people to see, you know how demanding schedules can be."

The collector growled, "It's nearly midnight you fool. The only ones up are us." With that said, he cocked his gun and aimed. Kid promptly flipped himself _backwards off the roof edge_ and Hakuba had to forcefully hold back the yell that wanted to erupt from his lips.

 _Bang._

There was a blinding flash of light that didn't affect him _and for a minute he wondered why_ , and then the collector was holding his eyes with one hand and waving the gun madly in the air and swearing to himself all the while. Hakuba strode over to him quickly, put some gloves on, and plucking the gun from his hand before promptly slapping handcuffs on to him.

"You're under arrest for attempted murder and illegal firearms, or you will be when I get you to the police."

"That thief had it coming to him!" the collector bit out sharply.

Hakuba shook his head and sighed, dragging the man by the handcuffs into the building and into Nakamori's waiting arms. He almost pitied the ear lashing the man would get for his stupidity.

Almost. At the moment, he was too preoccupied with thoughts of Kid's welfare, and whether or not the bullet had hit him. If it had… he wasn't sure what he would do.

* * *

 **A.N**

 **So. Here it is! This rewrite and plot extension is gonna be done in its entirety by November 30th, but weekly updates every Tuesday to reduce risk of burn out.**

 **Thanks so much for keeping with me.**

 **See you next Illusion, (but I'll PM you if you review with progress updates each day)**

 **Core.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Kaito woke up, he knew something was wrong. For a start, he felt tingly all over rather than cramped as was usual after a heist. For another, the room seemed far too large for what he was used to. Immediately he found himself trying to figure out what was wrong and the mildly terrifying options that came to mind, were that he was poisoned, and suffering a hallucination right now and it would probably do him good to skip school and call Jii, _or_ he was under a curse.

He really hoped it was a curse, since he could probably cope better with a change in shape than a unstable perception of reality all things considered. He shook his head slightly, and pushed himself up biting back a strong sick feeling building in his throat. His features felt strange, and he took them in with a wary gaze.

Disproportionately long forearms and short shoulders, the 'double knee' ankle knee combo so common in animals, thick puffy orangish red fur with dark socks at the ends… Definitely some sort of mammal, so he would have to be careful getting up. Kaito pushed himself up onto all fours with a sort of morbid curiosity as to what he would turn out to be. Large paws- and thumbs? Yes, that was definitely an opposable thumb. He was definitely an animal. With hands.

So a magical creature. He could work with that, even if it was going to be tricky.

He jumped off the bed and with as little clumsiness as he could manage, walked slowly to the bathroom to see a mirror and his likely new face. After he figured out exactly what he was, he would call Jii and ask for help.

Some small acrobatics later, and he was looking at the sink on his back legs with a blank expression. A fox it seemed, still with his distinctive messy bedhead and a long fiery tail peeking out from behind him. Well, he called it a tail but it was more like a small bonfire floating behind him, not much shape to it.

" _Great. A fox with a fire tail._ " Kaito grumbled, he couldn't even blend in anywhere useful with that thing hanging around behind him! He blinked. " _A… Bark?_ " Yes. That was definitely a bark and not words. But he still _heard_ his voice over it.

It took him a moment to puzzle through what that could mean, and once he figured it out he immediately tried to speak without talking. " _Well… I can hardly call Jii like this. So what should I do?_ "

He could go to Jii in person- but he would have to work his way through a whole city almost with no public or private transport given his situation. He could visit Aoko next door- and scare the living daylights out of her unintentionally. That wasn't an option at all- and he felt slightly ashamed for thinking that.

For a moment, Kaito found himself wishing he was simply himself again. He was surprised when a an outline of sorts- depicting himself blurred and slightly different to photos of him and not quite all there, appeared to shadow himself. Kaito fell down from the sink edge in shock, and the illusion flickered and disappeared.

Cautiously, Kaito focused on the feelings he'd been having when that illusion appeared- of wanting to be himself and to blend in and not have to be this silly fox form forever. He could have handled horns or a tail or being shrunk like Tantei-kun, but not a quadruped bonfire.

It took a moment, but it cleared into view from nowhere soon enough- like a fog being lifted and leaving behind something different but still what he wanted to see. Himself.

He shook his head, and attempted to clean up the edges and brush up on the features that he wasn't quite sure were right and although it still appeared fragile and slightly see through in the mirror _it was him._

Well, that discovery just opened a whole world of possibilities- didn't it? He could simply return to school and daily life with a little tweaking of aspects of himself. Kaito grinned. Sounded like a sound plan to follow- and he could look up Tierschatz and steal her again soon enough to see if she could fix him.

Kaito nodded, and moved to the table in his bedroom carefully, to write a note in case Aoko came busting around. Illusory powers to this degree seemed a little suspicious, so he should be prepared. That meant a quick trip to the center of town and it's shopping districts to get the materials to make a realistic dummy- realistic enough to fool Aoko if she pulled one of her ridiculous stunts.

With that thought in mind, he moved out of his room and into the outside world. Of course, it couldn't be that simple, would it?

* * *

It was 10AM, and Hakuba was doing what he always did at 10AM on a Saturday- grocery shopping. Sure, it wasn't the most enthusing task but it had to be done and his caretaker was far more loose with restocking food supplies than was entirely safe. And if it helped him with gathering his scattered thoughts from the night before. Well, he wasn't going to abandon routine for stewing in worry. May as well do something productive after all.

Counting the people he passed, and keeping a mindful eye on his surroundings so he wouldn't miss the slip in a wall that lead to the marketplace Hakuba Saguru greatly enjoyed browsing at, he was quite happily distracting himself from thoughts of Kuroba's wellbeing. Almost successfully, really.

As such, he was surprised when his attention was drawn to someone who didn't seem entirely all there. Certainly, they were there and appeared to be focusing to a ridiculous degree on the act of walking but they had the oddest sheen to them like the sunlight couldn't decide whether to bounce off of them or to pass through them.

It took him a moment to place why it was, and then he realised. It was the look illusions gave off to those who knew what to look for. He narrowed his eyes, and looked about the crowd. Normally illusionary people travelled in groups- kitsunes, tanukis, all of them were prey to many of the residents of the magical world and there was considerably more safety in numbers than alone. Despite his best efforts he could sight no other signs of a travelling group. It seemed this one was alone.

He refocused his attention on that person, who was still walking ahead of him. They had messy brown hair reminiscent of Kuroba's, and he bit down the feelings that stirred within him. He would be allowed to worry later, for now he just needed to focus on this problem.

Thoughts of shopping went completely out of his mind, and he quickened his walking pace to catch up with them. They moved faster in response, and the illusion flickered a little. He caught a glimpse of fire before it stabilised and was completely settled in that too similar form of something he knew of but also knew was just an illusion.

He frowned in frustration, and started to lightly jog to catch up to them. A brush of surprise and annoyance hit him, and then they were off. The illusion flickered more and more when he was running away from him, and Hakuba really wanted to tell him to slow down but couldn't bring himself to yell that out loud in a crowded street. It would draw attention to the runner- and that would be breaking a few people's minds if they didn't immediately dismiss it as a trick of their mind.

The illusions flickering grew fairly quick, and it was clear from that and the glimpses he got of the form beneath that it was a Kitsune- and a young elemental one at that. His sense of urgency increased, and he began looking at all possible escape routes he'd need to cover to get it cornered. Of course he could just chase it to the ends of the earth- but experience- and years of it, had taught him that scared people did not and would never follow common sense methods of escape.

Kid was one such example- and he pushed the thoughts that followed that imagery with worry out of his head firmly. This kit needed his help, and he would give it to him. Cursed with this situation as he was, Hakuba found himself not really caring. The thief would, no matter how much he worried or despised him, be fine. It was in his nature.

Seeing as that had no impact on the present, he opted to push it to the back of his mind and focus on catching this little kit before it got itself into trouble by running away and dropping its illusion in the middle of central Tokyo. How it got there in the first place- he had to wonder. Normally kits were tightly guarded by their parents until they could hold one long enough to go about with humans with no worries of getting caught.

It probably got separated from its parents, whether through death or through pure coincidence only it could say. He looked around, noticing that for once luck was on his side. A convenient alleyway, with some bins ready for collecting blocking the entrance. He kept a close eye on the kit and sped up, feinting to the opposite side of the bins. It yelped in surprise and, predictably enough, darted into the gap.

Hakuba smiled, and stepped calmly into the space, covering all exits. The only way it would be able to escape would be climbing 5 foot walls. Considering it was one foot tall and fairly young looking- judging by the quality and thickness of fur at least. Could be older and deceptive, but it was generally a good indicator of age.

Hakuba focused himself, breathing in deeply. He usually got it right- ever since he'd been cursed it was so easy, but it always held an element of risk. He focused on the, rather confused and slightly panicked kit and just let himself move his thoughts to a calming state, and then into the kits mind. He had done it so many times before- being a guardian it was part of his duty- and he forced himself to maintain the connection, attempting to link and calm it enough to get it to a safe place.

The fox stared at him blankly, then tilted its head a little. "Huh?"

* * *

Hakuba broke off the connection, seeing as it was clearly having little effect, and the kit could communicate at least. The voice seemed similar to Kuroba's, but not quite. It probably heard it while wandering around and decided it would be a good voice to use. Possibly. He needed to find out more information.

"Hey, Kit. I'm not gonna hurt you." He didn't kneel down, instead trying to remain as still as possible to keep it calm. The kit's expression changed from wide eyed and blank, to something very annoyed.

"I'm not quite sure about that." Yes. That voice was quite inconsistent, it seemed to be flipping between Kid and Kuroba every other syllable. It probably hadn't had any formal education in telepathy or much at all, and this floating idea only added to his worry. Why was it lost, or at the very least wandering alone in the middle of Tokyo?

Hakuba took a moment to collect himself, recognising the signs of someone ready to bolt at the slightest provocation. "Where are your parents?"

Even though he said it in as gentle a tone as he could muster, the kit twitched. It pushed itself up onto all fours, and revealed a fiery tail burning in the air behind it. Bad move it seemed, but at least he now knew that it was an elemental kit. That explained why it was out and about- they were often abandoned or orphaned due to their prodigious talents compared to others their ages. "Ah- you don't have to answer… Do you have somewhere to go, at least?"

The kit looked to one side, and seemed frozen in place almost. Debating its options. "I do."

Hakuba breathed a near silent sigh of relief. He appeared to have found something that the kit felt was alright to talk about. "Could I walk you there, maybe?"

The kit turned its eyes on him, and even though he was looking down at it he had the impression of it being much larger than himself with the power in those eyes. "No."

Blinking momentarily, Hakuba nodded and tried to find a way to corner it with words and not cause it to despise him, seeing as that would defeat his entire purpose. His mind drew a blank for a moment, and the kit raised an eyebrow, silently waiting.

Hakuba blinked, realising that he would get nowhere today. He almost gave up and walked away- but stopped himself before he could do so. He needed to reason through this, and… Then it hit him- the perfect solution. It held an element of risk, certainly, but given what he had seen of the kit, it would be the most effective.

"I can't argue with that…" He then slowly turned around, and walked away back to his house. He knew this tactic should cause it to follow him home, it's curious nature playing to his advantage.

* * *

 **A.N**

 _ **Grumbles quietly.**_

 **Life's been kind of terrible for the last week. Parents back from night shift for a fortnight- meaning less internet time. Motivation is almost nonexistant. Generally been down rather than neutral, and this chap has barely been worked on and was mostly prewritten.**

 ** _sighs_**

 **Well, you're not here to hear my life story. This chapters longer than usual, I'm glad to say.**

 **Please review and tell me where I can improve, or any parts you particularly enjoyed.**

 **Yours sincerely, Core.**


	3. Chapter 3

Kaito frowned after Hakuba's retreating back- why had he left him alone? He had been so insistent, and careful with him that the detective likely thought he was made of glass. It made no sense to leave an interesting puzzle- and Hakuba had never done so before.

It only took a moment of weighing the options to decide on what he would do next. He should go to Jii's- he really should. He'd be able to help him sort out an alibi while he fixed and help him plan the heist to get back with all the skill of a magicians assistant. And yet, Hakuba just walking away from a puzzle, even if he had approached Kaito in a rather unorthodox manner... Unheard of. Simply unheard of.

With those thoughts in mind, he slinked after the detective at a good distance. Just enough not to be seen, but close enough to see any odd twists and turns he might take.

Before too long had passed, Hakuba stopped. Kaito suppressed a sigh of relief; knowing this body was unused to exercise was completely different to the reality of running, then following someone for a short distance with it.

The detective stopped, and rummaged in his pockets for a moment. A few yen coins and a key appeared quickly, and he walked through a large ornate gate which Kaito found himself ogling. He knew that it hadn't been there before, unless he managed to completely miss it throughout a lifetime of living in Tokyo.

Must be magic, he thought ironically and followed him in. When the gate slipped silently shut, he didn't notice a thing.

* * *

Hakuba felt when the kit walked in through the barrier, into the safe zone. He smiled lightly, and directed his path to a door, one of the doors which created an area based on the patient. He didn't often use this zone, but it was remarkable at helping them to relax, so it was very useful for the more skittish or freaked out ones he had had to help in the past.

He paused in front of it, listening for the faint crackling of the fire tail until it grew close enough for him to be certain it wasn't lost and was following him. He then stepped through the door, focusing on the brief impressions he'd has when he met the Kit. What the room shaped itself into surprised him somewhat.

It was a skyscraper, with an endless distance to the ground. The moon was close, and the sky glinted like a heavy blanket studded with miniature gems over their heads. Hakuba raised his eyebrows. Typically kitsune had an earthen affinity, and this room would produce a den or some other place that felt safe. Or if they were more fiery, a field to play in. A skyscraper, though? More suited for a harpy, or really any sort of avian. A fox having such a sky themed safe place was unusual, to say the least. It signified both freedom, and running away from things in some interpretations.

The kit followed him in with an attempt to be stealthy by slinking along walls and watching very close ahead of him for hints of his footsteps. Hakuba smiled at him, "Hello."

The kit started, and looked up. His eyes skimmed the detective, in his brilliant warm colours, before they moved onto the background the room had created. A deep blue sky with stars, the soothing dark grey of concrete and the shimmer of the metal handle rails in the moonlight; it all combined to make a beautiful scene, cool and empty of any troubles. Hakuba's clothing was composed of warm oranges and browns, and the scenery only drew attention to it.

The kit sat on its haunches, flame tail flickering quietly behind it. "What is this place?"

Hakuba momentarily considered saying, _whatever you want it to be,_ then promptly dismissed it. "It's a place to relax."

It raised an eyebrow. Hakuba _really_ needed to assign a name to it other than 'the kit.' "Oh yes, I feel very relaxed," Jeez, was a kit that young supposed to know how to put that much sarcasm into a sentence? "Sitting on a rooftop with someone intent on capturing you does that to you, its the most relaxing thing I can think of."

"I suppose you're right, it must be _very_ relaxing. Why do you think I'm intent on capturing you?" And if there wasn't an equal amount of sarcasm returned there, Hakuba would eat his deerstalker.

"Because you've tried to do that before?"

Hakuba frowned. Even though he had only known the kit when he encountered the wavering illusion, they thought he'd tried to capture him before?

"I don't believe I have, kit. I only met you this afternoon."

The kit blinked slowly. And Hakuba realised he really needed to think of a name for it- or ask them their name… Before he could get too into his thought chain, the kit spoke up once more in that half whole voice, "Think about it, detective. Even my _voice_ of sorts should be a clue to you."

Hakuba took a moment to smooth his features before he began to process what he knew; there was an elemental kitsune kit in front of him, and it spoke with an odd mixture of Kuroba's and his moonlight persona's voices.

It's safe place, happy place, however the room worked, had taken the form of a skyscraper which was very unusual for Kitsune, seeing as they typically had a very down to earth, or intense fiery notion of happiness which the room would represent with dens, fields or playgrounds, or so he had found in his experiences.

Kuroba had held a heist last night, and succesfully stolen a gem which had some rumours of magic tailing it. He had been shot at, probably wounded and there was a mysterious flash of light which probably hadn't affected him due to his guardian skillset. Magic... Light…

His eyes widened when the dots finally connected, and he looked down at the kit.

"Now you see." Said the kit- no, Kuroba with laughter in his eyes.

"Where the hell were you going to go like that, Kuroba?"

Kuroba laughed nervously. "My assistant's house… They've known about real magic before so I thought…"

"So you thought that'd be the best option?" Try as he might, Hakuba couldn't quite keep the disbelief out of his voice.

His classmate stood up and paced up and down. "Well, I could hardly stay at home. Ahouko could come in at any minute and discover me being foxy, given how weak I am in this body when it comes to disguise or even endurance of any kind. He was the best, and safest option for me to go to."

Hakuba was sure the endurance bit had been a jab at him chasing him all over tokyo, and he felt it in his gut. "You know, I can probably help you out Kuroba."

A blank, unforgiving stare was his only response. Oh dear…

"Look- I know a lot about real magic, it's in my job description as a guardian, and I enjoy learning about it as well. I also have contacts that will let me follow that gem- ah, Tierschatz? All over Japan and most of the Eurasia if needs be. I'm a better bet for getting back to normal, wouldn't you say?"

Okay. The merciless ice king expression had turned into something more thoughtful.

"I can go all over the world with no trouble, you know. Being a master of disguise now-" His classmate paused in speaking too "I can do that anyway. And I trust my assistant more than you, detective."

Hakuba shook his head, annoyed.

"Judging by the way you- I mean KID," He amended at the eye twitch, "Chase gems all over the country it's probably safe to assume that you're looking for something in one of the most inefficient ways possible. I can narrow down the search for Tierschatz to one venue, and the exact security for it within hours by lying a little to the right people about why."

He paused for breath, and Kuroba leapt in to steal the opportunity. "And what's to say this won't land me in a jail cell when I'm fit for one again?"

Hakuba frowned- his thought process severed. "Well… Hunter's code, I suppose?"

"What's that?"

"Do not kill an animal you did not weaken yourself. Do not kill an animal for sport, when no parts can be used for anything. Do not…" Hakuba trailed off. "It's just a list of moral considerations for the hunt, really. It's rude to disrespect them and leads to a breakdown of relationships between the hunters and non hunters. But I digress- I use it to give myself a moral compass in detective work. And you, Kuroba, are certainly no exception. If I'm not the one who's hunted you down and laid a trap but coincidence was, then I will fight coincidence to bring back a good chase."

Kuroba paused, and mulled over this information for a moment. "I suppose I can't argue with that, but good luck finding evidence of your fanciful accusations when you do return to 'the hunt'."

He gave a wry smile, indicating the acceptance in ways more clear than the words just spoken. and Hakuba returned it with all the same relief.

 **A.N**

 _ **Sighs deeply.**_ **Procrastination, while fun. means hammering stuff out in 4 hours before a self set deadline with a beta (the lovely LadyShadow26) killing 379 words of OOC writing for me. Don't procrastinate kids.**

 **And yes, everyone. Very different direction to the original, but if you guys want me to I maintain that I will be willing to finish it. After this one.**

 **Please tell me what you thought of this chapter's develepments in a review, and if you just fave or follow know that I will PM you to find out.**

 **Yours entirely not creepily,**

 **Core.**


	4. Chapter 4

Kaito sat down, watching Hakuba carefully from his position on the settee. "So… What now, Hakuba?"

Hakuba opened his mouth, then closed it. "I guess… That we should start searching?"

Kaito did a slow clap, "No shit- I mean _wow_ Sherlock. Great job."

Mildly affronted, the detective stood up and made his way over to the bookshelves, running his finger along spines of books. Kaito watched him curiously for a moment.

"Uh… Shouldn't we use the internet?"

"Yes, that might speed things up a little…" Hakuba hid the dusting on his cheeks, and moved over to the computer. "T-i-e-r-s-c-h-a-t-z, right?"

Kaito nodded slowly. "Yes."

Hakuba pulled a quick google search up, and scanned the kanji for results other than 'Kid steals another gem!'. Needless to say, it took longer than expected. After sifting through several "helpful" articles even Kaito seemed to become rather impatient.

"There!"

Kaito put his paw on the screen next to the article he'd spotted and Hakuba swatted him away. "You'll scratch the screen, Kuroba!" He ignored the annoyed look directed his way and clicked on the promising link.

Hakuba scanned the article ignoring all the rambling, poorly edited words of praise to Kid in favour of looking for it's next location as teased in the title.

Osaka, huh?

He leaned back in his chair, and met Kuroba's eyes. "Look's like we'll be heading to Osaka, then."

A brief expression of consternation flashed across the Kitsune's face, but was gone just as fast as it appeared. "Alright."

It was guarded, and Hakuba felt a twinge of guilt. "I guess, I'd better order us some Shinkansen tickets, then?"

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "I'll order my own, thanks."

Hakuba pulled himself out of his chair, and walked a short distance away. "Go ahead."

His classmate hopped up onto the chair, and pressed the keys slowly, checking he was actually hitting the keys correctly every so often by looking up. Hakuba felt something rise in his chest that he couldn't really identify, and knew he wanted to help Kuroba out of this situation as soon as possible. Seeing him like this… it was only pitiful.

"Oi, Brit?"

Hakuba shook himself out of his thoughts, and was cut off from any reply by Kuroba "You sure you'll be okay riding the Shinkansen? You've been spacing out a lot and I'll need-"

Kaito cut himself off with a frown. "Well, that doesn't matter."

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "I'll be fine. I'm like this normally. More importantly- we'll need to…"

Kaito was looking away, and he could tell by the swishing flames behind him he was very uncomfortable.

"Ah, we'll need to find a way to maintain an illusion for you. How'd you feel about a hoshi no tama- star ball?"

Kaito looked up. "Those exist?"

"You're a magical fox with a tail made of fire, and you're surprised by that?"

"Point. But how would it work?"

"It takes small portions of your soul as you use it, and magnifies illusory abilities by a large amount."

Judging by Kuroba's expression, that did not win him any points. "It… Takes your soul?" Yes, there was definitely a string of horror lacing his voice.

"I mean- it sort of absorbs it a little. Most Kitsune are fine with it and use it to hide occasionally- and it returns it after a while if it's not used anyway."

Kuroba raised one eyebrow. "How safe."

Hakuba decided not to dignify that with a response.

Hopping off the chair, Kuroba walked along the bookshelves edge eyeing the books titles. Hakuba sighed, since he was in the wizard and familiar section it'd be a miracle if he found anything like what he suspected he was hunting for. A moment later, he returned with a thick leather bound journal.

"Here. Page 72."

Kaito frowned, and opened it to the indicated page. He squinted a moment. "Dear lord- the handwriting is atrocious here."

"Just read it…" Hakuba grumbled. He'd suffered enough with the book himself but it did have good knowledge. Still, why typewriters were still considered modern to the magicks was something he'd never know.

* * *

"You know, you don't _have_ to be silent the entire ride, Kuroba."

His companion shifted to level a glare at him. "Well, not everyone hates the silence."

Hakuba winced. "Being a magician doesn't lend itself to long silences, I'd have thought."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Surprisingly enough, I'm comfortable with sitting in silence rather than talking to someone who'd love to figure out my secrets one by one."

The blonde recoiled slightly. "You don't have to be so tight about it, you know. Travelling can be a lot of fun with someone to talk to."

"Fun." A deadpan stare was the response.

"Well, yeah. I've met a lot of strange people while travelling. I remember my first time flying, there was a magician on board…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Hakuba looked up to the ceiling, and smiled. "It was when I was seven. My mother and I had a huge fight after I became a Guardian, and so she decided to fly me over to my father. I wonder if it was to see if distance made it go away, or just to get some distance between me and her."

Kaito tilted his head. "Why weren't your parents together?"

"Well, my mother was a very independent woman, and prefered the company of computers to people, my father had to stay in Tokyo for his job as a superintendent, and she.. She just couldn't stand the life of a housewife so she took me and went back to England, where I grew up until that moment, and then that happened and she popped me on an aeroplane to fly…"

Here, his expression became tense, but in the way of concern rather than fear."I was really afraid of flying because I'd seen a film where the pilots were poisoned, the night before."

"Thankfully I had a seat near the back of the plane far from the pilots. However in a rush of bad luck we ran into some nasty turbulence about an hour away from our destination. An announcement was made that the plane was experiencing some minor issues and we would have to make an emergency detour for maintenance."

Kuroba's eyes seemed to flash a bit of curiosity here though his expression remained neutral. "Sounds like an interesting trip, but what does this have to do with the magician?"

Hakuba sighed. "I was getting to that. Not long after I started to have a panic attack. Given the circumstances I suppose it was only natural…" he watched Kurobas expression briefly flash something a bit more sympathetic, but it quickly passed.

Hakuba continued. "Apparently the man in front of me caught wind of my distress, and before I knew it my favorite stuffed animal appeared before my eyes. I had no idea how it got there, it was stuffed away deep in my carry on…" Kuroba's expression changed to something mildly interested. Hakuba's cheeks colored a bit in embarrassment at sharing such a personal memory. Still it seemed to be doing the trick at peaking Kurobas interest.

"Soon I sensed more than heard a presence sitting next to me. I looked up and saw a man staring back at me, a gentle smile on his face. He did all these silly card tricks, and juggled, and showed me how to roll a coin over my knuckles. I didn't keep up with it for long after, but I've never felt so at ease in all my life."

Kuroba had straightened up now, and was giving him his full attention. "Do you remember what he looked like?"

Hakuba frowned. "Well… He had a small mustache I think, and a really odd smile, like he always knew something you didn't."

Kuroba was hiding a smile now, and Hakuba was curious. "What's the smile for, Mr. Silent?"

"Nothing, just glad you can believe in magic after all your criticisms of Kid's heists."

* * *

 **A.N**

 **Yes, children can fly alone apparently, on some airlines. Sorta. Look it up, and then realise that Creative License is a thing. :P**

 **Many thanks to my great beta LadyShadow26 and also to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed. I'm on a roll with this now that the set ups done.**

 **Was this sort of filler? Sort of. But neccesary. And sweet.**

 **This is Core, signing out for now.**


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Kaito stepped outside of the train station, his eyes were taking in the city's scenery. "This place is quite business orientated, it seems…"

Hakuba gave him an odd look. "Just because it doesn't have as many unusual things as Tokyo, doesn't necessarily mean it is more business focused. Osaka's actually quite a relaxed place, I've found."

"You've been here before?" Kaito inquired.

Hakuba raised his eyebrows in response. "I often visit Osaka with my father, he attends plenty of meetings all over Japan and when I'm here he enjoys bringing me with him."

"I knew you had other things to do in your life than dogging Kid's heels!" Kaito laughed, and Hakuba shook his head lightly with a smile. At least Kuroba appeared to be past the bleakness that was so overpowering during the train ride here.

"Still, you have to appreciate the scenery of Osaka once you get out of the city centre. It's really a sight to behold on a tour."

Kuroba smiled, "Alright, alright… Now we really should be going to that place, before it gets too dark. I don't want to spend too long like this."

Hakuba sobered up, looking at Kuroba properly rather than just relaxing with the illusion as he was intended to. Behind the mask he was still a kitsune, still stuck in a form that wasn't his own despite the powerful illusions he'd put up. The detective nodded, and pulled out a map. "I believe it's this building, so we'd have to take this street here…"

* * *

"Here it is!"

Hakuba looked up in surprise, and was pleased to see he had not led them astray. Before them, rising up from between several low rise flats, was a huge brownish building with a large observatory at the top. Hakuba turned to Kaito, "You ready to go in?"

His classmate gave him a look, "What do you take me for, a tourist? Of course I'm ready!"

With that reassurance in his ears, Hakuba nodded and walked into the building, listening the footfalls behind him.

"Hello! Welcome to our hotel, what can we do for you?"

Hakuba looked over to the receptionist, decided to simply avoid her since they needed to try and locate the gem quickly, and began walking over to the lift. Kaito, it seemed had other plans.

Kaito ambled over to the receptionist, and Hakuba stopped in his tracks to watch him carefully. "Yes, my friend and I are avid gem collectors, and we've heard there's a gem being displayed in the area and would like to visit it since we're only going to be here for a small while?"

The receptionist blinked. "Yes, there's a german collection being displayed in the observatory later today, but it's not open to visitation till 6 o'clock… Perhaps you'd do better to wait in the restaurant, we've got a few groups already there waiting for the exhibit to open."

Kaito momentarily looked puzzled, but nodded easily. "Guess that's what we'll be doing then, hmm?"

Hakuba shot him a look, and Kaito rubbed his neck for a moment before joining him in the lift. A moment of silence passed as the lift began rising, and Hakuba frowned at Kaito. "Why'd you talk to the receptionist?"

Kaito shrugged, "Well, two reasons. Firstly to confirm that we haven't just wandered into a look alike building, and secondly…" Here he smirked, "If we have a reason to be here, it's more believable and memorable than the fact that we're teenagers, who probably shouldn't be on our own."

Hakuba nodded, and they fell in silence for the rest of the short lift ride. When the lift pinged, indicating the 23rd floor and he stepped out, he paused. Kaito had _not_ followed him out. He turned. "Are you alright, Kuroba?"

The thief eyed him, but he seemed to be looking at something in the distance, "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Hakuba shook his head, "Come on then, we don't want to get a bad spot in the restaurant." Kuroba followed him reluctantly, and Hakuba tried to ignore the niggling feeling of worry that settled in his stomach at that. They'd established a reason to trust each other, found common ground… What was causing Kuroba to worry so much?"

* * *

Kaito hesitated when he stepped out of the lift, trying his best to focus on maintaining his illusion. He really needed to fix this. Ever since changing into a kitsune his luck had gone downhill. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Hakuba, but in his scan of the restaurant he had spotted a dangerously familiar tuft of brown hair.

" _You can't be serious…"_ Kaito groaned internally. " _Why is_ _ **he**_ _here?"_ He was so caught up in his thoughts he almost missed Hakuba's question. He quickly plastered on his best poker face "Yeah, I'm fine…"

Even still, his voice betrayed him for once and that reply came out far more uncertain than he'd have liked. Tantei-kun was talking with a dark skinned teenager in a cap, and thankfully facing away from them.

Hakuba was already moving ahead towards a seat with a lovely view that Kaito really couldn't care less about at the moment, so he forced himself to move. Staying in front of the lift would draw attention to him, and between maintaining an illusion and keeping an eye on his detectives, Kaito was having trouble with any sort of extra focus that avoiding attention would bring.

They got half way there, before the dark skinned teen straightened up and moved towards them, or more likely the refreshment stand they were passing, still looking behind him at Edogawa. As soon as he turned around though, his eyes narrowed.

"Hakuba!" They stalked over, and Kaito was torn between moving to push Hakuba along and just staying frozen. Hakuba, on the other hand, seemed much more confident with the stranger than he'd have expected.

"Hattori." The blond said curtly, with a slight smirk. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"And why not? This is my city, and I can investigate where I like." The other boy, Hattori, bristled in reply.

Hakuba raised an eyebrow, knowing exactly what sort of reaction he was causing in the Osakan. "Oh? It would be a shame if you made a mess of this rather nice establishment."

Hattori drew himself up to his full height. "Oh yeah? Well I think I can solve the case faster than ya or Ku-Conan so ya shouldn't interfere."

Hakuba eyed Kaito, obviously not expecting a case to be mentioned. Kaito shrugged helplessly, and of course Heiji's eyes strayed over to him. He took him in a moment, then looked down to Conan, who was trying frantically to signal him to abort mission, and promptly ignored Conan in favour of trying to pick Kaito up by the shirt collar. "Kudo?!"

Kaito scrambled backwards, watching his illusion flicker in response with some trepidation. "Uh I think you have the wrong guy…" Honestly what the heck was going on?

Heiji frowned. "Ya just messed yer hair up, that's hardly a disguise."

Kaito paused momentarily taking this information in, but was cut off from replying by a scream. " _Great, a murder…"_

The detectives ran in the direction of the scream, drawn to it like sharks to blood, and Kaito had no choice but to follow in their footsteps or be left alone in an unfamiliar place.

* * *

 **A.N**

 _ **SO JUST TO CLARIFY. LADYSHADOWS26 IS AN ABSOLUTELY AWESOME BETA AND FRIEND AND I CAN'T SAY THAT ENOUGH.**_

 **Eh...**

 **So, that's chapter 5.**

 **:|**

 **It really shouldn't be this late, 40 minutes till midnight and most of it written in the past hour and a half even though I've had the plan laying around for a week.**

 **Spent 4 days off sick from general life activities, but fanfiction is always fun to return to when you are presented with so much extra free time.**

 **I made a discord server for DCMK fanfiction to, isn't that nice? If you want the link, it's this. discord . gg / kyr mFy f**

 **kyrmFyf after the typical discord link if fanfiction deletes the spaced link as I expect it will.**

 **Erm... I'm rambling. Sorry. _Bows._ Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **...**

 **See you next chapter, I guess,**

 **Core.**


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE

...

I'm sorry to say, but life has driven me to pieces. I ask that you all bear with me until the 27th of December, 2017 during a two week temporary hiatus, the time when regular scheduling will resume. Please.

...

Thank you for listening, and thank you for staying with me this far. Honestly.


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